Is my plan impractical or has this been done?

[cinnamongirl]

Ok ...and I apologize in advance if this ends up being in the wrong place but this is an issue I've been trying to find an answer to all day... I've got 2 pygmy babies on the way in a few weeks (1boy 1girl). They will be 5 weeks old and the lady I'm buying them from assures me they will be eating well by then. My boy is not castrated as of yet. The original plan was to guard her through her first season, then breed them once, to get her milk going and then fix him. I haven't seen yet where anyone else says anything about doing this. I understand it's more painful for him the older he gets, but I don't really see any way around that unless I borrow another to sire but I'd rather not. Will her milk stop even if she is continuously milked? Is there another reason this isn't practical?

 

[SmallFarmGirl]

Her milk won't stop for at least a year then she will dry up but, the more you breed and milk her the longer she'll go. How would you divide the boy and the girl?

 

[cinnamongirl]

What I basically had in mind was fencing down the middle of their area so that they can still be together and not be lonely but won't be able to get into any mischief. Maybe that would be torture (so close and yet so far)? I only plan to keep them seperate through her first season though, so I'm guessing from around 4 months old til around a year would be safe? As for a year of milk, I guess that would work...by then I'll know if it's something we want to continue and we'll have had an experience with birthing etc. and we can decide if we want to breed her again.

 

[ksalvagno]

Why not breed to a buck from the farm you are buying these 2 from. You are going to have 2 very lonely goats if you keep them separated. Also, just to use him for one season, you are going to have a lifetime of stink. Once they breed, they pee on themselves. I would just have him castrated at 8-12 weeeks old and then find another buck to use. Hormonally you are just asking for problems.

Pygmies tend not to have as long a lactation as other goats. I would say you probably wouldn't get a lot more than about 10 months of milking from her. I'm sure you will need to breed her every year to get milk. Even many dairy goats don't go more than a year. If you wanted a goat that milked for a long time, then you would need to look for one. I have an Alpine/Nubian mix that will milk for at least 2 years and will milk longer if I let her. So those types of goats are out there but you do need to search for them and you will probably pay more for them.

 

[cinnamongirl]

Yes, that's the decision I've finally come to. I was under the impression that the stink would be seasonal but I guess not. Thanks for all your help!